JAPAN

Companies to Scale Back on Hiring New Graduates: Japanese companies will hire 16% fewer new college graduates this year than last year, according to a survey published in the financial newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. In the hard-hit manufacturing sector, 23.1% fewer jobs will be available to new graduates, said the paper, Japan’s leading financial daily. Japanese manufacturers are moving production overseas as the strong yen erodes profits. The yen has risen 13% in value against the dollar this year. Non-manufacturing jobs will decrease by 8.5%, the survey found.